Composite medical device having a titanium or titanium based alloy section and a ferrous metal section

ABSTRACT

A composite medical device having a titanium, and titanium based alloy, section welded to a ferrous metal section. The weld provides supplementary filler material to alter the proportions of various elements in the weld pool to ensure a strong and reliable weld. Certain fillers, such as nickel or iron, added to the weld pool enable high quality welds to be fabricated utilizing a wide variety of fusion welding techniques between the titanium, or titanium based alloy, section and the ferrous metal section. The sections may include nickel-titanium, also known as nitinol. The sections may be in the form of wires, bars, ribbons, and sheets. The composite medical device of the present invention may include guidewires, stents, right-angle needles, suture passers, retractors, graspers, baskets, and various retrieval devices.

REFERENCE TO RELATED DOCUMENTS

This application is a continuation of a previous application filed inthe United States Patent and Trademark Office on Mar. 19, 2003, titled“Method of Welding Titanium and Titanium Based Alloys to FerrousMetals,” and given Ser. No. 10/391,921, all of which is incorporatedhere by reference as if completely written herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to the field of medical devices;particularly, to a composite medical device having a titanium, andtitanium based alloy, section welded to a ferrous metal section.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Titanium and titanium alloys have become important structural metals dueto an unusual combination of properties. These alloys have strengthcomparable to many stainless steels at much lighter weight.Additionally, they display excellent corrosion resistance, superior tothat of aluminum and sometimes greater than that of stainless steel.Further, titanium is one of the most abundant metals in the earth'scrust, and as production methods become more economical, will beemployed in ever growing applications. Various alloys of nickel andtitanium are part of the alloy class known as Shape Memory Alloys(SMAs). This term is applied to that group of metallic materials thatdemonstrate the ability to return to a defined shape or size withthermal processing. In a most general sense, these materials can beplastically deformed at some relatively low temperature and return totheir pre-deformation shape upon some exposure to higher temperatures.

SMAs have been observed for more than 70 years in a wide range ofalloys, such as AuCd, CuZn, FePt, and FeMnSi. Although a wide variety ofalloys have been observed to demonstrate the shape memory effect, onlythose that either generate significant force or are able to recoversubstantial amounts of strain are of commercial interest. Currently,this has generally been the nickel-titanium (NiTi) alloys, includingNitinol (an acronym for Nickel Titanium Naval Ordinance Laboratory)alloys, and such copper based alloys as CuZnAl and CuAlNi.Nickel-titanium, for example, is commercially available in such diverseforms as wire, ribbon, tubing including microtubing, sheet, and can beformed into rods, bars, solid wire, stranded wire, braided wire,sputtering targets, and thin films for use in a wide variety ofindustries

SMAs undergo a phase transformation in their crystalline structure whencooled through a transition temperature from the relatively stronger,high temperature or “Austenite (or austenitic)” form to the relativelyweaker, low temperature or “Martensite (or martensitic)” form. Suchcrystalline transformations are responsible for the hallmarkcharacteristics of these materials; their thermal, or shape, memory; andtheir mechanical memory. When a SMA is in its low temperature, ormartensitic, form, it can be easily deformed into a new shape. If thedeformed material is heated through a transformation temperature, thematerial reverts to the higher temperature, or austenitic, form. Thematerial regains its original shape, sometimes reverting in shape withgreat force. Very slight differences in the alloy composition of the SMAcan considerably affect the transition temperature for an alloy, as canheat treatment of the alloy. The shape memory effect takes place over arange of just a few degrees and the transformation effect can becontrolled to take place within a degree or two of desired temperature.

“Mechanical memory” is demonstrated if the SMA is deformed at atemperature which is slightly above the transformation temperature. Thiseffect is caused by stress induced martensitic formation. Themartensitic material will revert immediately to the undeformedaustenitic form as soon as the stress is removed. This makes thematerial highly elastic and rubber-like, and able to recover up toapproximately 8% recoverable strain.

The “thermal memory” of these alloys, that is, their tendency to returnto a predetermined shape after thermal processing, is not qualitativelydifferent from their “mechanical memory,” that is, their tendency toelastically deform, and then to return to their original configuration,when held at a constant temperature. This mechanical memory is alsocalled “superelasticity” or “pseudoelasticity.” This property ofsuperelasticity observed in SMAs has led to widespread commercial use insuch diverse fields as cellular telephone antennas, eyeglass frames,women's brassieres, fishing lures, and medical devices. The area ofmedical devices has been of particular interest, as nickel-titaniumalloys have shown a high degree of biocompatibility, corrosionresistance under physiologic conditions, and excellentcytocompatibility. Additionally, nickel-titanium has a lower magneticsusceptibility than stainless steel, making it compatible with MRI(Magnetic Resonance Imaging) systems. Superelasticity allows the passageof a complex instrument through a narrow cannula, and then to have theinstrument elastically regain its desired conformation upon exiting thecannula. Applications include, by way of example and not limitation,right-angle needles, suture passers, retractors, graspers, baskets, andvarious retrieval devices. Since the nickel in these alloys ischemically bound to the titanium in a strong intermetallic bond, risksof human tissue reaction have been shown to be low.

A major limitation in the use of nickel-titanium alloys has been thedifficulty of joining this material, both to itself, and to othermaterials. Because of its high cost, it is often desirable to limit theuse of nickel-titanium to the actual moving parts of a device, whilefabricating supporting members of such materials as stainless steel.However, welding of nickel-titanium to stainless steel has provedparticularly troublesome, as disclosed by Ge Wang, in a review “Weldingof Nitinol to Stainless Steel.”

Fusion welding has been fraught with difficulties, particularly,problems surrounding issues of solidification, or “hot,” cracking, andcracking due to intermetallic formation, or so-called called “cold”cracking. Hot cracking is due to inherent characteristics of alloys.Unlike pure metals, alloys solidify through a range of temperatures,rather than at a single melting point. This temperature range, calledthe freezing zone or mushy zone, is a temperature zone in which the highmelting point constituents of the alloy solidify first and form acontinuous interlocking solid network. During the cooling of welds, thealloy, both liquid and solid, continuously shrinks in volume, so that atensile force is constantly applied across a solid network that isinterlaced by a thin liquid film. This tensile force causes cracks toform at the liquid metal filled grain boundaries, and these cracks thenpropagate through the weld zone. The larger the mushy zone, the moresevere the solidification cracking problem. Low melting point impuritiessuch as phosphorous (P) or sulfur (S) can contribute to hot cracking.For example, S in as low a concentration of 9 ppm in a nickel alloy canbe sufficient to cause hot cracking.

“Cold” cracking is a particular problem when attempting to weldnickel-titanium to other materials, and is responsible for commonobservations in the art that welding is generally not an acceptablemethod of joining nickel-titanium to other materials, e.g., stainlesssteel, because brittle intermetallics are formed in the weld zone. Tiand Fe form the brittle intermetallic compounds TiFe and TiFe₂, both ofwhich can cause cold cracking at welded joints. The compressive strengthof the intermetallics compounds TiFe and TiFe₂ is virtually zero due totheir extreme brittleness. Techniques such as direct fusion weldingcause intermetallic formation at the bond line, and consequentialfailure of the weld. Even solid state bonding techniques which do notrequire melting at the weld interface, while they initially form astronger weld, are susceptible to solid state diffusion ofintermetallics into the weld line, and consequential weakening.

In addition, the reactivity of titanium makes it important that anywelding be done in a clean, inert atmosphere or in a vacuum, to reducethe tendency to form damaging oxides or nitrides. Nickel-titaniummaterials naturally form surface oxides in air during processing intofinished form. The principal surface oxide formed is TiO₂.

Compared with attempts to weld nickel-titanium to ferrous metals, moresuccess has been experienced with joining nickel-titanium to itself withsuch techniques as laser welding, plasma welding, resistance welding,and e-beam welding. Subtle variations in the composition of thenickel-titanium alloys greatly affect the inherent stability ofhomologous nickel-titanium welds. For example, nickel richnickel-titanium alloys, such as those that are comprised ofapproximately 50.5% nickel, are readily weldable to itself by the abovetechniques. On the other hand, titanium rich nickel-titanium alloys,such as those composed of approximately 51.5% titanium, are susceptibleto solidification cracking. The instant inventor showed improvement inhomologous nickel-titanium welds with the addition of nickel to the weldpool in his review, “Resistance Welding Ti-Rich Nitinol Wire.” Grainboundaries have been shown to be still wet with liquid during the laststages of solidification and are easily separated by thermal shrinkingstresses. As a result, cracks form at the weld metal centerline.

However, the difficulty of joining nickel-titanium to other materials,such as stainless steel, has remained exceedingly limiting to the art.Many techniques have been employed with limited success. Non-fusionjoining methods are most commonly used to join nickel-titanium;including soldering, epoxies and other adhesives; and various types ofmechanical joining such as crimping. These techniques are not withouttheir problems. Soldering, for example, must often be accomplished withspecial flux to remove and inhibit the formation of surface oxidesduring soldering. Epoxies and adhesives are not suitable for allmanufacturing techniques and types of uses to which thesenickel-titanium products are directed. Mechanical fastening may causeoverdeformation and cracking of the nickel-titanium. Interference fit orthe interlocking of components has been successful, but requiresmanufacturing to close dimensional tolerances.

Various methods have been used to attempt to improve results in weldingof titanium alloys to ferrous metals. One such example is seen in U.S.Pat. No. 4,674,675 to Mietrach. The '675 method relies upon providing atleast two intermediate metallic layers for placement between thetitanium containing portion and the ferrous portion. The layer adjoiningthe titanium containing portion is vanadium and the layer adjacent tothe ferrous metal is one of the group consisting of chromium, nickel,and iron. The resulting multilayer composition is then diffusion weldedtogether. This approach suffers from the inherent complexity of amultilayer approach, which is disclosed in some embodiments to employeven more layers, consisting of tungsten and platinum, added to thevanadium and chromium/nickel/or iron layer. Additionally, the nature ofdiffusion welding makes the process quite slow and cumbersome, requiringapproximately 90 minutes at a pressure of 10 Newtons per squaremillimeter to achieve a satisfactory diffusion weld.

Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 3,038,988 to Kessler discloses the use of avanadium interlayer between titanium and a ferrous metal, wherein theelectrode pressure, the strength of the welding current, and the weldingtime are regulated such that an unmelted, or solid, core of the vanadiuminterlayer is preserved. This prevents intermixing of the ferrous andtitanium elements and the consequent prevention of intermetallicformation; however, welding conditions must be strictly controlled inorder to prevent the liquefaction of the vanadium interlayer, makingthis technique less suitable for production use. Following this practiceof using a vanadium interlayer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,282 to Johnsen etal. teaches the use of a sintered material made of vanadium, titanium,and iron, allowing for complete melting of the weld metal withoutintermetallic formation. Such a method suffers from the additional stepsinvolved in the complex manufacture of the tripartite weld metal.

Further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,410,165 teaches a method of nickel enrichingthe weld zone specifically directed to the welding of a high carbon,powder metallurgical, cobalt free tool steel that contains greater than1 wt. % of carbon and total refractory metal additions greater than 15wt. %.

Accordingly, the art has needed a means for improving the art of fissionwelding titanium, and titanium based alloys, to ferrous metals. Whilesome of the prior art devices attempted to improve the state of the art,none has achieved the unique and novel configurations and capabilitiesof the present invention. With these capabilities taken intoconsideration, the instant invention addresses many of the shortcomingsof the prior art and offers significant benefits heretofore unavailable.Further, none of the above inventions and patents, taken either singlyor in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In its most general configuration, the present invention advances thestate of the art with a variety of new capabilities and overcomes manyof the shortcomings of prior methods in new and novel ways. In its mostgeneral sense, the present invention overcomes the shortcomings andlimitations of the prior art in any of a number of generally effectiveconfigurations. An object of the invention is to provide an improvedmethod of welding titanium, and titanium based alloys, to ferrousmetals. A further object, in particular, is to provide an improvedmethod of welding nickel-titanium and stainless steel. The instantinvention demonstrates such capabilities and overcomes many of theshortcomings of prior methods in new and novel ways.

In one of the many preferable configurations, the method comprises amethod of welding titanium, or a titanium based alloy, to a ferrousmetal to produce a strong and ductile weld. The method comprises ingeneral, the steps of placing at least one titanium, or a titanium basedalloy, workpiece in close proximity to a ferrous metal workpiece,thereby forming a joint. A quantity of a filler material is addedsubstantially at the joint. In preferred embodiments, the fillermaterial may be nickel or iron. Shielding may be provided around thejoint, such as by way of example and not limitation, placing theworkpieces in a vacuum or flooding the joint with inert gas.

The joint is then fusion welded, by any of various means of fusionwelding, including, in a preferred embodiment, pulsed laser welding. Thefusion welding produces a weld pool fully incorporating the fillermaterial to achieve a predetermined composition of the weld pool, and,in a preferred embodiment, the relative proportions of metal in the weldpool are substantially equal amounts of iron, titanium, and fillermaterial. The filler material may be any nickel or iron bearing metal ormay be substantially pure nickel or may be substantially pure iron.While the method is generally applicable to all titanium and ferrousmetal combinations, the titanium, or titanium based alloy, workpiece maybe nickel-titanium and the ferrous metal workpiece may be stainlesssteel. Testing showed that the tensile strength of the resulting weld issubstantially equal to that seen when welding nickel-titanium to itself.The workpieces may be in any shape, including sheet, bar, tube, or, inthe preferred embodiment, wire. Optional steps include cleaning theworkpieces prior to welding and stress relieving, that is to say,achieving substantially full recovery of the shape memory strain, of thetitanium, or titanium based alloy, workpiece. Such stress relief may beachieved by annealing, shot peening, or other stress relieving processas would be familiar to one skilled in the art.

These variations, modifications, alternatives, and alterations of thevarious preferred embodiments, processes, and methods may be used aloneor in combination with one another as will become more readily apparentto those with skill in the art with reference to the following detaileddescription of the preferred embodiments and the accompanying figuresand drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Without limiting the scope of the present invention as claimed below andreferring now to the drawings and figures:

FIG. 1 shows an elevation view of titanium, or titanium based alloy,workpiece and a ferrous metal workpiece in the embodiment of twoadjacent wires with a joint between their ends;

FIG. 2 shows an elevation view of the wires of FIG. 1, wherein the jointis filled with a filler material;

FIG. 3 shows an elevation view of the wires, joint, and filler materialof FIG. 2 during the application of a welding means;

FIG. 4 shows an elevation view of the wires of FIG. 2 during formationof a weld pool;

FIG. 5 shows an elevation view of the end of titanium, or titanium basedalloy, workpiece showing an area of stress relief;

FIG. 6 shows an elevated perspective view of titanium, or titanium basedalloy, workpiece and a ferrous metal workpiece in the embodiment of twoadjacent bars with a joint between their ends;

FIG. 7 shows an elevated perspective view of the bars of FIG. 6, whereinthe joint is filled with a filler material.

FIG. 8 is a light micrograph showing a fusion weld between, on theright, a nickel-titanium wire and, on the left, a ferrous metal(stainless steel) wire, the weld made with no filler material;

FIG. 9 is a scanning electron micrograph showing a fusion weld between,on the right, a nickel-titanium wire and, on the left, a ferrous metal(stainless steel) wire, the weld made with nickel filler materialaccording to the instant invention;

FIG. 10 is an light micrograph showing a fusion weld between, on theright, a nickel-titanium wire and, on the left, a ferrous metal(stainless steel) wire, the weld made with nickel filler materialaccording to the instant invention;

FIG. 11 is a scanning electron micrograph showing a fusion weld between,on the right, a nickel-titanium wire and, on the left, a ferrous metal(stainless steel) wire, the weld made with nickel filler materialaccording to the instant invention; and

FIG. 12 is a light micrograph showing a fusion weld between, on theright, a nickel-titanium wire and, on the left, a ferrous metal(stainless steel) wire, the weld made with nickel filler materialaccording to the instant invention.

Also, in the various figures and drawings, the following referencesymbols and letters are used to identify the various elements describedherein below in connection with the several figures and illustrations:R.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The method of fusion welding titanium, or titanium based alloys, toferrous metals of the instant invention enables a significant advance inthe state of the art. The preferred embodiments of the apparatusaccomplish this by new and novel arrangements of elements and methodsthat are configured in unique and novel ways and which demonstratepreviously unavailable but preferred and desirable capabilities. Inparticular, the method produces a weld zone that is substantially freeof certain brittle intermetallic compounds, such as, by way of exampleand not limitation, FeTi and TiFe₂, which cause brittleness of the weldbond. The method also produces a highly reproducible weld metal, suchthat with a reasonably simple mathematical calculation, a skilledoperator can readily determine and fix the alloy composition of the weldpool. The detailed description set forth below in connection with thedrawings is intended merely as a description of the presently preferredembodiments of the invention, and is not intended to represent the onlyform in which the present invention may be constructed or utilized. Thedescription sets forth the designs, functions, means, and methods ofimplementing the invention in connection with the illustratedembodiments. It is to be understood, however, that the same orequivalent functions and features may be accomplished by differentembodiments that are also intended to be encompassed within the spiritand scope of the invention.

Experiment 1

To establish baseline variability in alloy ductility, various metalalloys were subjected to arc melting and subsequent ductility testing.As a uniform procedure, all components were placed in a small H₂O cooledcrucible. The crucible was argon shield gas purged for 2 minutes. An arcwas struck and all material was melted into a single ball. The resultingball was then cooled in argon gas before being exposed to hammer blowsto estimate the relative ductility of the material. The purpose of thisexperiment was to confirm observations within the art, withoutintroducing variables associated with welding processes, as to theapproximate relative ductility of various alloys of iron, nickel,titanium, and aluminum. Results are shown in Table I. TABLE IComposition Sample # (Weight to Weight %) Ductility Observation 1 Ni -56% 5 hits, ductile, no cracks Ti - 44% 2 Ti - 86% 3 hits, some crackingFe - 14% 3 .070″ Nickel-titanium Wire Ductile, no cracks 6 Fe - 75%(Oxidized Surface) Al - 25% 6 blows to open crack 7 Fe - 75% (Nooxidation) Al - 25% 4 blows to break 8 Ni - 68% Extremely brittle Al -32% 11 Ti - 54% Extremely brittle Fe - 46% 13 Ti - 14% 2 blows tocracking Fe - 86%

As expected, samples of nickel-titanium (Samples #1 and 3) showed goodductility, with little tendency toward cracking. Alloys of iron andaluminum showed moderate ductility, while those alloys expected toproduce large quantities of intermetallics, such as titanium-iron(Sample 11 and 13), were brittle and showed a pronounced tendency tobreak under hammer blows. The brittleness of the iron and titaniumcombinations tended to confirm the widespread previous observation inthe art of material joining that the combination of nickel-titanium andstainless steel in subsequent welds was likely to be particularlytroublesome.

Experiment 2

To approximate the joining of nickel-titanium and stainless steel, thearc melting protocol above was performed using equal (50-50) weight toweight % of nickel-titanium and stainless steel wire. Various othermetals were added to examine potential changes in ductility, as shown inTable II. Various combinations of stainless steel and nickel-titaniumpercentage were also examined for ductility, as shown in Table III. Thepurpose of this experiment was to identify potential metallic additivesthat would improve the overall ductility, without introducing variablesassociated with welding processes, of various alloys of nickel-titaniumand stainless steel. TABLE II Additive (All baseline compositions 50-50weight to weight %, Nickel-titanium and Sample # Stainless steel)Ductility Observation 18 Ti - 10% Extremely brittle 19 Fe - 10% 2 hits,moderately brittle 20 Al - 10% Extremely brittle 21 Ti - 20% Verybrittle 22 Fe - 20% Very brittle 23 Al - 20% Very brittle 24 Ti - 30%Very brittle 25 Fe - 30% 3 hits to crack 26 Al - 30% Very brittle 27Fe - 40% Moderately brittle 28 Fe - 50% Moderately brittle 29 Fe - 50% 3hits to break, low ductility, high strength, not brittle 30 Fe - 50% 3hits to break, low ductility, high strength, not brittle 31 Ti - 40%Very brittle 32 Ti - 50% Slightly less brittle than 40% Ti 33 Al - 40%Very brittle 34 Al - 50% Very brittle 35 Ni - 10% 3 hits, moderatelybrittle 36 Ni - 20% 1 hit, moderately brittle 37 Ni - 30% 4 hits tocrack in half 38 Ni - 40% 5-6 hard hits, no breakage, good ductility 39Ni - 50% Good ductility 44 Cr - 10% Brittle 45 Cr - 20% Brittle 46 Cr -30% Brittle 47 Cr - 40% Brittle 48 Cr - 50% Very slightly less brittlethan other Cr trials, no ductility

TABLE III 40 Stainless steel - 60% 3 hits to crack into piecesNickel-titanium - 40% 41 Stainless steel - 70% 3 hits to crack intopieces Nickel-titanium - 30% 42 Stainless steel - 80% 4-5 hard hits tocrack, did not Nickel-titanium - 20% break, good ductility 43 Stainlesssteel - 50% Very brittle Nickel-titanium - 50%

As seen in Table II, alloys made of equal parts nickel-titanium andstainless steel with significant amounts of added titanium (Samples 21,24, 31 and 32), added aluminum (Samples 20, 23, 26, 33 and 34), or addedchromium (Samples 44 through 48) showed high degrees of brittleness.Alloys made of equal parts nickel-titanium and stainless steel togetherwith added iron showed brittleness at the lower iron range of testing(Samples 19 and 22), which tended to decrease somewhat as the percentageof iron was increased (Samples 27 through 30). Alloys made of equalparts nickel-titanium and stainless steel with added nickel showed anincrease in ductility as the amount of added nickel was increased(Samples 35-39). As seen in Table III, control alloys made of varyingpercentages of nickel-titanium and stainless steel with no otheradditive generally performed poorly, with the partial exception of an80% stainless steel—20% nickel-titanium composition (Sample 42). In thecompositions most closely resembling a direct stainless steel tonickel-titanium weld (Sample 43), the composition fared poorly, again inline with the general observation in the material joining arts that itis extremely difficult to achieve good results welding stainless steeland nickel-titanium. Ti and Fe form the brittle intermetallic compoundsTiFe and TiFe₂. TiFe has a B2 (CsCl) structure, and TiFe₂ has a C14(MgZn₂) structure. Both of these type structures are highly brittle andboth can cause “cold-cracking” and failure of the welded article.

In summary, the arc melting composition experiments detailed aboveindicated that it was promising to attempt to introduce nickel and ironinto stainless steel and nickel-titanium welds, and that the addition ofsuch metals as aluminum, chromium, and titanium were highly unlikely toimprove weld quality. While additional iron did improve weld quality atrelatively high levels, it was not as promising as the addition ofnickel, and experimentation was begun to determine a feasible method andprocedure for enhancing stainless steel and nickel-titanium welds withadded nickel.

In preliminary experimentation, a 0.023″ diameter stainless steel wirewas lap welded with a pulsed Nd-YAG laser to a 0.019″ diameternickel-titanium wire, after a 0.003″ thickness nickel foil insert wasplaced longitudinally between the wires. The weld showed someimprovement over similar lap welds made without added nickel, but thenickel-added welds were still brittle. Microscopic examination showedthat it was difficult to achieve proper mixing of the weld metal alongthe weld line in lap welded wires.

Attention was therefore shifted to a butt welding technique. A 0.023″diameter stainless steel wire was end joined to a 0.019″ diameternickel-titanium wire, placing two strips of 0.003″ nickel foil betweenthe ends to be joined. Each piece of nickel foil was 0.020″ wide and0.125″ long. Initial welds were made on opposing sides, then the nickelfoil was trimmed off and two additional welds were made on opposingsides 90 degrees rotated from the first welds. This produced goodstrength welds which were able to withstand the stress of having thenickel-titanium wire superelastically bent back on itself. Refinement ofthe spot welding technique began with a twin weld-lathe setup. Two powerturntables were used, with one turntable controller slaved to the otherso as to turn in unison together. Under argon shielding, a slowcomplementary rotation of the turntables allowed the stainless steel andnickel-titanium wires to be turned simultaneously and exposed to aplurality of laser spot welds. In a series of test welds, nickel foil inone or more 0.003″ layers with varying rotational speeds and weldpatterns produced welds that ranged form poor to excellent. In oneparticular embodiment, excellent results were obtained using two layersof 0.003″ nickel foil; four single laser pulses directed every 90degrees around the joint at a beam voltage of 225 V and 5 millisecondpulse duration. Experiments were broadened to include 0.004″ nickelfoil, which appeared to give an excellent quality weld, with subsequentload testing to failure in an approximate range of 84 ksi to 95 ksi.

Analysis indicated that optimal results occur when the relativeproportions of nickel, iron, and titanium in the final weld pool areapproximately equal, that is, in a weight to weight relationship ofapproximately 33-33-33%. The technique of the instant invention allowsthis computation to be effected very efficiently. Knowing the size ofthe interface of the materials to be joined, the alloy composition ofthe ferrous metal and titanium or titanium alloy, and the composition ofthe nickel interlayer, one skilled in the art can calculate the volumeof nickel that needs to be melted into the weld pool to achieve optimalproportionality of metals in the final weld pool. Accordingly, itbecomes a substantially straightforward calculation to determine thethickness of the nickel that should be placed between the parts to bewelded.

Additional refinements in the method of joining titanium, and titaniumbased alloys, to ferrous metals further improved the process. Analysisof the nickel added welds indicated that while the addition of nickelfoil had suppressed the formation of certain brittle intermetallics andhad lessened the tendency to “cold cracking” of the joints, the thermalcharacteristics of nickel-titanium continued to produce some degree of“hot cracking” on the nickel-titanium side of the welds. To avoid fusionline cracking associated with shape memory recovery stresses, the tip ofthe nickel-titanium wire was annealed using lower power laser pulses. AUnitek YAG laser pulsing at 1 pps for 5 ms at 200V produced a series ofoverlapping pulses to anneal about one wire diameter back from the tipof the nickel-titanium wire prior to beginning the welding sequence. Theone wire diameter of annealed material is approximately equal to thelength of the nickel-titanium wire that is later melted in the weldingsequence. It was found that extending the annealed section of wirefarther than one wire diameter length along the wire of thenickel-titanium did not appear to work as well, as during subsequentbending, the annealed portion of the nickel-titanium outside of the weldarea yielded plastically to bending stresses and led to failure, not inthe weld area, but in the annealed material adjacent to the weld area.This technique of annealing is not restricted to embodiments weldingwire to wire. Annealing may be utilized in any application where it maybe deemed desirable to provide stress relieving, that is to say,achieving substantially full recovery of the shape memory strain, of thetitanium or titanium alloy prior to welding. Such stress relief may beachieved by annealing, shot peening, or other stress relieving processas would be familiar to one skilled in the art.

To do so, one skilled in the art would select an annealing zone, basedon the materials and weld technique planned, designed to encompass thearea of the planned weld zone, as well as the areas of heat affectedzone near the weld zone. For example, it is widely known in the art thatlaser welding tends to produce a narrower heat affected zone than docertain other types of fusion welding; therefore laser weldingtechniques would require a smaller annealed zone than would some otherwelding techniques.

With reference generally now to FIGS. 1 through 12, the method comprisesa method of welding titanium, or a titanium based alloy, workpiece 100,to a ferrous metal workpiece 200 to produce a strong ductile weld,comprising, in general, the steps, seen in FIGS. 1 through 3, of placingat least one titanium, or a titanium based alloy, workpiece 100, inclose proximity to at least one ferrous metal workpiece 200 therebyforming a joint 300. A quantity of a filler material 400 is addedsubstantially at the joint 300. Shielding is provided around the joint,such as by way of example and not limitation, placing the workpieces100, 200 in a vacuum or flooding the joint 300 with inert gas.

With reference now to FIG. 4, the joint 300 is then fusion welded, byapplication of the fusion welding means 500 of any of the numerousprocesses of fusion welding, including by way of example and notlimitation, laser welding. In one embodiment, the fusion welding means500 producing the weld pool 600 is produced by a beam of a laser, andthis laser beam may further be pulsed during the fusion welding. Thefusion welding produces a weld pool 600 fully incorporating the fillermaterial 400, as seen in FIGS. 8 and 9, to achieve a predeterminedcomposition of the weld pool.

Numerous refinements and variations of the basic method are possible.For example, the filler material 400 may be any nickel or iron bearingmetal or may be substantially pure nickel or may be substantially pureiron. While the method is generally applicable to all titanium, andtitanium alloys, and ferrous metal combinations, in one particularembodiment the titanium, or titanium based alloy, workpiece 100 may benickel-titanium and the ferrous metal workpiece 200 may be stainlesssteel.

To promote the general quality of the weld, a further step of cleaningthe titanium or the titanium based alloy workpiece 100 and the ferrousmetal workpiece 200 to substantially remove organic contaminants may beemployed.

Further refinement of the technique may, but is not required to, includea step of providing stress relief stress, that is to say, achievingsubstantially full recovery of the shape memory strain of the titanium,to the titanium, or titanium based alloy, workpiece 100. Such stressrelief may be achieved by annealing, shot peening, or other stressrelieving process as would be familiar to one skilled in the art.

While the number of material forms amenable to this technique istheoretically not limited, one such combination of workpieces, seen inFIG. 2, may have the titanium, or the titanium based alloy, workpiece100, as a titanium, or titanium based alloy, wire 110 having a firstdiameter 112, and having the ferrous metal workpiece 200 as a ferrousmetal wire 210 having a second diameter 212. The wires 110, 210 may havesubstantially the same diameter or significantly different diameters. Inthose embodiments welding the titanium, or titanium based alloy, wire110 to the ferrous metal wire 210, and when it is desired to producestress relief in the titanium, or titanium based alloy, wire 110, suchas with laser welding, a preferred embodiment seen in FIG. 5, is toprovide stress relief to a predetermined area 700 having a length 710that is substantially equal to the first diameter 112. In oneembodiment, seen in FIG. 4, of wire to wire welding, the titanium, orthe titanium based alloy, wire 110 and the ferrous metal wire 210 aresimultaneously rotated together in the same direction R during thefusion welding.

To select one of the many combinations of workpiece materials and fillermaterials, by way of example and not limitation, the titanium, or thetitanium based alloy, wire 110 may be nickel-titanium, the ferrous metalwire 210 may be stainless steel, and the filler material 400 may besubstantially pure nickel. In another such combination, the titanium, orthe titanium based alloy wire 110 may be nickel-titanium, the ferrousmetal wire 210 may be stainless steel, and the filler material 400 maybe substantially pure iron. It is to be emphasized that the use of afiller material 400 is not limited to the fusion welding of wire, andthe titanium, or titanium alloy, workpiece 100 and the ferrous metalworkpiece 200 may be in any form, such as by way of example and notlimitation and as illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7; ribbon, sheet, bar,tubing including microtubing, solid wire, stranded wire, braided wire,sputtering targets, and thin films.

In a preferred embodiment, the predetermined composition of the weldpool 600 is approximately equal parts by weight of nickel-titanium,stainless steel, and nickel. In another embodiment, the predeterminedcomposition of the weld pool 600 is approximately equal parts by weightof nickel-titanium, stainless steel, and iron. Nickel may be supplied tothe weld pool in the form of wire, powder, gaskets of predetermined sizefor use with standard size materials, or in a wide variety of otherforms, as would be obvious to one skilled in the art.

The utility of the instant invention is clearly shown inphotomicrographs revealing the detailed structure of the welds. FIG. 8is a light micrograph showing a fusion weld between, on the right, anickel-titanium wire 110 and, on the left, a ferrous metal (stainlesssteel) wire 210. Made without filler material, this weld shows extremecracking at the joint and very poor weld quality.

FIG. 9 is a scanning electron micrograph showing a fusion weld between,on the right, a nickel-titanium wire 110 and, on the left, a ferrousmetal (stainless steel) wire 210, the weld made with nickel fillermaterial, as indicated in the specification and claims of the instantinvention, and fabricated with a low heat input laser weld process. Theweld shows overall excellent weld quality. FIG. 10 is a light micrographshowing a fusion weld between, on the right, a nickel-titanium wire 110and, on the left, a ferrous metal (stainless steel) wire 210, the weldmade with nickel filler material, as indicated in the specification andclaims of the instant invention, and fabricated with a low heat inputlaser weld process. The weld shows overall excellent weld quality. FIG.11 is a scanning electron micrograph showing a fusion weld between, onthe right, a nickel-titanium wire 110 and, on the left, a ferrous metal(stainless steel) wire 210, the weld made with nickel filler material,as indicated in the specification and claims of the instant invention,and fabricated with a high heat input laser weld process. The weld showsoverall excellent weld quality. FIG. 12 is a light micrograph showing afusion weld between, on the right, a nickel-titanium wire 110 and, onthe left, a ferrous metal (stainless steel) wire 210, the weld made withnickel filler material, as indicated in the specification and claims ofthe instant invention, and fabricated with a high heat input laser weldprocess. The weld shows overall excellent weld quality.

Numerous alterations, modifications, and variations of the preferredembodiments disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in theart and they are all anticipated and contemplated to be within thespirit and scope of the instant invention. For example, althoughspecific embodiments have been described in detail, those with skill inthe art will understand that the preceding embodiments and variationscan be modified to incorporate various types of substitute, and/oradditional or alternative materials, relative arrangement of elements,and dimensional configurations. Accordingly, even though only a fewvariations of the present invention are described herein, it is to beunderstood that the practice of such additional modifications andvariations and the equivalents thereof, are within the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined in the following claims.

The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of allmeans or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended toinclude any structure, material, or acts for performing the functions incombination with other claimed elements as specifically claimed.

1. A composite medical device, comprising: (a) a titanium, or a titaniumbased alloy, section; (b) a ferrous metal section, joined to thetitanium, or a titanium based alloy, section by a weld; (c) the weldproduced by creating a shielded weld pool incorporating (1) a portion ofthe titanium, or titanium based alloy, section, (2) a portion of theferrous metal section, and (3) a portion of a filler material, toachieve a predetermined composition of the weld pool.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the filler material contains nickel.
 3. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the filler material contains iron.
 4. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the titanium, or titanium based alloy, section isnickel-titanium and the ferrous metal section is stainless steel.
 5. Thedevice of claim 1, wherein the titanium, or titanium based alloy,section is stress relieved prior to welding.
 6. The device of claim 1,wherein the titanium, or the titanium based alloy, section is atitanium, or titanium based alloy, wire having a first diameter, and theferrous metal section is a ferrous metal wire having a second diameter.7. The device of claim 6, wherein the titanium, or the titanium, or thetitanium based alloy, wire is a stranded wire.
 8. The device of claim 6,wherein the titanium, or the titanium, or the titanium based alloy, wireis a braided wire.
 9. The device of claim 6, wherein the compositemedical device is a guidewire.
 10. The device of claim 6, wherein thetitanium, or the titanium based alloy, wire is nickel-titanium, theferrous metal wire is stainless steel, and the filler material issubstantially pure nickel.
 11. The device of claim 6, wherein thetitanium, or the titanium based alloy, wire is nickel-titanium, theferrous metal wire is stainless steel, and the filler material issubstantially pure iron.
 12. The device of claim 10, wherein thepredetermined composition of the weld pool is approximately equal partsby weight of nickel-titanium, stainless steel, and nickel.
 13. Thedevice of claim 11, wherein the predetermined composition of the weldpool is approximately equal parts by weight of nickel-titanium,stainless steel, and iron.
 14. The device of claim 1, wherein thetitanium, or the titanium based alloy section, is a titanium, ortitanium based alloy, tube having a first diameter, and the ferrousmetal section is a ferrous metal tube having a second diameter.
 15. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein the composite medical device is a stent. 16.The device of claim 14, wherein the titanium, or the titanium basedalloy, tube is nickel-titanium, the ferrous metal tube is stainlesssteel, and the filler material is substantially pure nickel.
 17. Thedevice of claim 14, wherein the titanium, or the titanium based alloy,tube is nickel-titanium, the ferrous metal tube is stainless steel, andthe filler material is substantially pure iron.
 18. The device of claim16, wherein the predetermined composition of the weld pool isapproximately equal parts by weight of nickel-titanium, stainless steel,and nickel.
 19. The device of claim 17, wherein the predeterminedcomposition of the weld pool is approximately equal parts by weight ofnickel-titanium, stainless steel, and iron.
 20. The device of claim 1,wherein the titanium, or the titanium based alloy, section is atitanium, or titanium based alloy, ribbon.
 21. The device of claim 20,wherein the titanium, or the titanium based alloy, ribbon isnickel-titanium, the ferrous metal section is stainless steel, and thefiller material is substantially pure nickel.
 22. The device of claim20, wherein the titanium, or the titanium based alloy, ribbon isnickel-titanium, the ferrous metal section is stainless steel, and thefiller material is substantially pure iron.
 23. The device of claim 21,wherein the predetermined composition of the weld pool is approximatelyequal parts by weight of nickel-titanium, stainless steel, and nickel.24. The device of claim 22, wherein the predetermined composition of theweld pool is approximately equal parts by weight of nickel-titanium,stainless steel, and iron.
 25. The device of claim 1, wherein thetitanium, or the titanium based alloy, section is a titanium, ortitanium based alloy, sheet.
 26. The device of claim 25, wherein thetitanium, or the titanium based alloy, sheet is nickel-titanium, theferrous metal section is stainless steel, and the filler material issubstantially pure nickel.
 27. The device of claim 25, wherein thetitanium, or the titanium based alloy, sheet is nickel-titanium, theferrous metal section is stainless steel, and the filler material issubstantially pure iron.
 28. The device of claim 26, wherein thepredetermined composition of the weld pool is approximately equal partsby weight of nickel-titanium, stainless steel, and nickel.
 29. Thedevice of claim 27, wherein the predetermined composition of the weldpool is approximately equal parts by weight of nickel-titanium,stainless steel, and iron.
 30. The device of claim 1, wherein the weldhas an ultimate strength of at least 84 ksi.
 31. A composite medicaldevice, comprising: (a) a nickel-titanium section; (b) a stainless steelsection, joined to the nickel-titanium section by a weld; (c) the weldproduced by creating a shielded weld pool incorporating (1) a portion ofthe nickel-titanium section, (2) a portion of the stainless steelsection, and (3) a portion of a nickel containing filler material, toachieve a predetermined composition of the weld pool.
 32. The device ofclaim 31, wherein the filler material is substantially pure nickel. 33.The device of claim 31, wherein the predetermined composition of theweld pool is approximately equal parts by weight of nickel-titanium,stainless steel, and nickel.
 34. A composite medical guidewire device,comprising: (a) a nickel-titanium wire having a first diameter; (b) astainless steel wire having a second diameter, joined to thenickel-titanium wire by a weld; (c) the weld having an ultimate strengthof at least 84 ksi and being produced by creating a shielded weld poolincorporating (1) a portion of the nickel-titanium wire, (2) a portionof the stainless steel wire, and (3) a portion of a filler materialcontaining nickel, to achieve a predetermined composition of the weldpool having approximately equal parts by weight of nickel-titanium,stainless steel, and nickel.